Supreme Court Declines to hold Nai Aupuni in Contempt
Hawaii Poll: Clinton, Trump Lead Races for Nomination
Study Shows how Coral Death Hype can be used to Gain Control of Your Land
Hawaii Congressional Delegation How they Voted January 19, 2016
Search for missing Marines continues into 5th day
Caldwell in Trouble Against Aiona
Borreca: …Besides basking in a 80 percent approval rating, Hannemann was running a train project that in 2008 was supported by 63 percent of Oahu’s voters.
As mayor, Hannemann got the good news, but now, Caldwell is getting the grief as the now-overbudget, dramatically overdue public works project lumbers from one political pitfall to another.
Hannemann also learned a lesson about fickle voters because that 2008 campaign was his last general election victory, as he went on to miss two attempts at governor and one congressional district loss.
Caldwell is now in political trouble in his own reelection campaign. The latest edition of the Star-Advertiser’s Hawaii Poll shows the 62-year-old Manoa Democrat trailing in a hypothetical three-way race with Council Chairman Ernie Martin and former Lt. Gov James “Duke” Aiona. The poll shows Aiona winning with 43 percent of the vote and Caldwell getting just 38 percent. Aiona has yet to say if he actually plans to run, other than noting on his Facebook page that “people obviously disapprove of the job Mayor Caldwell is doing.”
Caldwell won his job because he backed rail against former Gov. Ben Cayetano, who vowed to end the project.
Now Caldwell has to consider how much that support will mean in the coming election.
read … Aiona for Mayor
41% of voters denounce Ige’s work
SA: …A statewide survey of registered Hawaii voters found that 48 percent approve of the job Ige is doing, while 41 percent disapprove.
Hawaiian voters are most critical of Ige, with more than half of the Hawaiians surveyed saying they don’t approve of his job performance. A significant number of Filipino-American voters are also displeased, with 44 percent saying they disapprove of the job Ige is doing.
Japanese-American voters tend to be considerably more pleased with the performance of the governor, with 67 percent statewide saying they approve of the job Ige is doing….
The poll found 40 percent of voters statewide have a favorable opinion of Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui (who?), but another 44 percent said either they have never heard of Tsutsui or they do not know enough about him to have an opinion….
PDF: Hawaii Poll — Favorability
read … 41%
Titanic Legislature has same deck chairs, just rearranged
SA: …Last year at the start of the legislative session, Oahu voters said they were most concerned about the city’s rail project, traffic, homelessness and the state’s economy, in that order.
This year the voters cited the same top four issues but shuffled the order of those concerns. A new Hawaii Poll done in December and earlier this month shows Oahu voters are most concerned now with homelessness, the city’s rail project, the economy and traffic, in that order….
read …. Deck Chairs Titanic
Homelessness Top Issue
SA: …The poll found that 56 percent of registered voters statewide say Ige is not doing a good job on homelessness, while 34 percent approve of his handling of the crisis and 9 percent did not know or refused to answer. On Oahu, where the crisis is most acute, Ige’s numbers slipped even further, with 58 percent disapproving and 33 percent approving of how he is handling the issue.
Caldwell received better marks. Still, 47 percent of Oahu voters disapproved of his handling of homelessness versus 45 percent who say he is doing a good job and 8 percent saying they don’t know or refusing to answer….
The poll recorded a flip in priorities for voters, with 24 percent on Oahu saying homelessness is the most important issue; rail came in a distant second place at 16 percent. In January 2015 the Hawaii Poll found a plurality of respondents — 19 percent — considered rail the island’s most important issue, just ahead of traffic and the “economy/cost of living/jobs.” Homelessness ranked fourth in importance.
read … Homeless
Green: Homeless is good excuse for Minimum Wage Hike, Tax Increase
WHT: This could be accomplished by raising the current $8.50-per-hour minimum wage to at least $16 an hour (like homeless people have jobs?), Sen Josh Green said. Putting more money into projects that build homeless shelters will also be necessary. A tax on luxury developments to pay for rental housing initiatives and to build affordable homes would help fund the process, he said….
Statewide priorities for Inouye include instituting a tax credit for energy storage battery systems while ramping back over a period of several years the current tax credit for solar rooftop systems. The generous tax credits now given to rooftop photovoltaic purchasers is costing the state about $250 million in lost revenue, she said….
Creagan also is pushing for Gov. David Ige to not sign a Department of Health proposed rule change phasing out cesspools.
“With our current homeless crisis, the need for affordable housing is paramount and with a septic system costing 10 times what a cesspool would, we need to evaluate the cost-benefit and risk-benefit balance in areas away from the coast and at higher elevations,” he said….
Evans said she will introduce a bill to begin re-re-re-redevelopment of the Upper Hamakua Ditch (again). The irrigation system is (always) running at less than 30 percent of capacity (but it slushes pork) — compromised by age, leakage and vegetation, she said. Evans said she will support analysis and the development of a reservoir and distribution system to benefit Waimea agriculture.
Evans will also work to gain housing for the mentally ill, specifically on Hawaii Island….
Rep. Nicole Lowen, a Democrat representing Kailua-Kona, Holualoa, Kalaoa and Honokohau, is on the Energy and Environmental Protection, Ocean, Marine Resources, and Hawaiian Affairs, Finance and Water and Land committees.
Homelessness is a top priority for Lowen, who noted that Kailua-Kona (is proud to boast of) has the second-largest and fastest-growing homeless population in the state, behind Honolulu (see! We’re not anti-growth!). She said despite Ige’s statewide emergency proclamations and money for homelessness last year, the Department of Human Services is spending the money primarily on Oahu, not the rest of the state.
“I want to see some of that money go to the neighbor islands,” Lowen said. (Pander, pander, pander….)
read … State lawmakers list priorities as session nears
Kenoi Helps Charter Schools Push Back against Oversight, Ethics
CB: The list of entities interested in becoming charter school authorizers in Hawaii is growing, as the state Board of Education prepares to weigh in on the increasingly contentious relationship between charter schools and the commission created in 2012 to oversee them.
“We want to ensure local input, control and support,” Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi wrote to the BOE last month, adding that he believes “a new authorizer for charter schools in the county of Hawaii is desperately needed.” (Maybe they could teach lap dancing?)
The letters from Kenoi and the chancellor of University of Hawaii West Oahu — which would also like to become a charter school authorizer — are part of a 60-page report going before the BOE on Tuesday….
Although the Charter School Commission is coming under fire from schools for being overly intrusive, it was recently slammed by the state auditor’s office for not being aggressive enough in its financial monitoring of charter schools, including the now-shuttered Halau Lokahi….
The Charter School Commission was not asked to weigh in on any of the issues or complaints presented in the report, Commission Chair Catherine Payne said, adding that she had real concerns about the process thus far.
“The compilation serves as a preemptive attack that could discount any future response from the Commission,” Payne wrote in a letter submitted to the BOE for its Tuesday meeting. “I find it curious that someone who purports to be interested in seeking facts would simply take down all the comments and share them publically in this way, as if they were true. If I were still teaching logical fallacies I would use this as an example of ‘Poisoning the Well.’”
CB: BOE Forms Investigative Committee To Explore Charter School Oversight
read … Contentious
DHHL under fire for creating positions when vacancies are high—Danner Smells Opportunity
HNN: The troubled Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has come under criticism by state lawmakers for asking for the money to expand its staff by one third while about 42 percent of its positions are vacant….
Lawmakers were alarmed to learn the 64 requested new posts would be on top of 190 current jobs, 80 of which are vacant….
"They don't need more staffing. They need a new philosophy and a change in viewing how they get things done," Danner said (sensing an opportunity to take over and turn DHHL into a fake Indian Tribe.)
DHHL has so much room at its relatively new headquarters in Kapolei that it's renting out space to house 20 staffers from UH West Oahu.
Homelands officials said they expect to make 630 lots available to native Hawaiian beneficiaries in this next year, but 27,000 people remain on the waiting list. And 37 of them died waiting last month….
read … Creating Positions
Anti-Pesticide Hucksters Tour State -- Sugar Cane Victory Lap
MN: "Challenging Global Impacts of the Agrochemical Industry: 2016 Food Justice Summit" and its international group of speakers addressed a packed house at McCoy Theater at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Saturday night. (Lotta social climbers on Maui.)
The summit was part of a statewide tour that began at the University of Hawaii-Hilo on Friday, moved to Kauai on Sunday and ended up at the University of Hawaii-Manoa on Monday. There will be a "Convergence on the Capitol" event Wednesday, opening day of the state Legislature, to support community groups leading the charge for land, water and food rights, a news release about the event said.
The summit was organized by the Hawai'i Alliance for Progressive Action and Pesticide Action Network North America. HAPA is a statewide organization aimed at supporting community empowerment toward valuing the environment and people ahead of hype and fear to generate corporate profit for organic stores. PAN works to replace the use of hazardous pesticides with ecologically sound and socially just politically correct alternatives.
CB: What Is Sapping The Energy Of Our Farmers?
read … Organic Profit Machine
Hawaii has a shortage of farmers, not farmland
MN: Hawaii has a shortage of farmers, not farmland. The market will not support most farming operations, even established farmers. Of course I am referring to the recent announcements by HC&S and Richard Ha.
Farming is a business and a lifestyle but the numbers have to pencil out. Like your budget at home, you simply cannot wish you had more, you can either pay the bills or not.
I watched several plantations shut down during the '80s, '90s and now the last one with HC&S. What made this one more painful was realizing there were those that will feel victory in the closing. In the past years, the community mourned the loss when a sugar plantation closed.
For other plantation closures the true effects on land and view plains were not completely realized until about 16-18 months later, after plantings stopped, other uses took place or the land was fallowed. By that time it is too late. Closing a plantation is final. They never reopen.
read … Shortage of Farmers
Hawaii 4th Most Expensive State to be a Smoker
WH: In Hawaii smoking costs $2,186,781 over a lifetime….
read … True cost
QUICK HITS: